MOSCOW (A.A) - Turkish companies have made first export ofpoultry to Russia after Russia's veterinary authority lifted in February thisyear a ban on Turkish chicken.Turkey's Banvit and the Calkan Group, one of Russia's biggest meatproviders, said they had sold 20 tons of chicken in a highly competitive market.Calkan Group Chairman Mustafa Calkan said Russia gave Turkey a quota of50-60 tons as part of a group of exporter countries with a total of a quota of150 thousand tons.Calkan said Turkish companies fell behind their foreign rivals in Russia interms of competitive power due to their high production costs."The current price is around 2000 USD per ton yet the costs of Turkishcompanies totals as high as 2,800 USD per ton,"Calkan said.Rosselkhoznadzor lifted ban on poultry imports from Turkey on February 1.The ban was is in effect since October 2005.(İMB-CE)